Penguin Random House New Zealand
Award for Best Illustrated Book 2026

Finalist

Designers: Shaun Naufahu & Giordano Zatta (Alt Group)

Title: Sio fakaTonga ‘ae ‘Aati fakaTonga: Tongan Views of Tongan Arts

Publisher: Kula-ʻUli Publishing

Format: 275 x 195 mm, 300pp, fully-cased, section-sewn. Black cloth hardcover with significant red-foil coverage across front, back, and spine.

Typography: Herbik Regular, by Daniel Veneklaas

The book is produced in two spot colours, the red (PMS 3517 U) and brown (PMS 4659 U). The brown is utilised as a lighter alternative to a solid K black, as to maintain an ideal and pleasant grey value throughout.

Publisher’s Brief
“An appropriate vessel which affirms the mana and authority of the text; the collective effort, the depth of knowledge, and the precedent of this as the first text on Tongan art from a Tongan perspective.

A format which provides a pleasant reading experience, mindful of an extensive body text and running footnotes, but whose scale is generous in its presentation of illustrations.

A bilingual design, which allows Tongan and English to be read synonymously—not privileging one over the other.”